Bonded (53 page)

Brandi snorted.
“Too bad. That doesn’t give him the right to accuse innocent
people.” She’d always respected the captain but now... Sighing, she
changed the topic. “How’s Reno? Is his leg going to be okay?”

Peter murmured
softly that he’d check with Aran and left.

Damien fidgeted
and shoved his hands in his back pockets. Faint lines of worry
marred his brow but his words were confident. “Reno will be fine.
He’s a tough old man.”

“He’s not old.”
Brandi protested before she could stop herself.

“Nah, but he
always says he is. Force of habit. He’s the old man and I’m the
kid.”

Brandi smiled
thinking the two were a great team. It would be a shame if these
stupid charges broke them up. “What’s going to happen to him once
we’re back at Lycan Link?”

“He’ll be put in a
special holding cell—you too for that matter—since it wouldn’t be
safe to be in with the other detainees. Too many of them have a
grudge against Enforcers. And some might not like DCs very much
either. Then they’ll go over the evidence and decide how to proceed
from there.”

The thought of
being held in detention sent waves of fear and shame through her,
and she clenched her hands tightly together to keep them from
shaking. It was something she would never have believed could
happen to her. “The evidence against me is that solid? I mean,
there’s no chance of a last minute reprieve?”

“Never say never.
I’ve put in a call to some of my buddies. They’re following up on a
couple of ideas I had. With any luck, I might have some news within
the hour.”

“Well, that’s
good.” Brandi sat up straighter and pasted a smile on her face,
even though she was sure it looked rather sickly. Damien was trying
to help her. At least there was some hope. She hung onto that idea
like a lifeline.

“Maybe. Maybe not.
It depends on what they find and how clever the person was that
framed you. It might be that they’ll only find more evidence
against you.”

“Gee, thanks for
cheering me up, Masterson.” She let her shoulders slump downwards
again. “How does Beth stand you?”

“Beth’s special.”
Damien’s whole face brightened at the mention of his mate. “She can
find good in anyone... Even me.”

Brandi eyed the
man beside her, noting how calm and happy he seemed even just
thinking about Beth. Until now there’d always been an underlying
edge about Damien, a restlessness or faintly cynical discontent.
Finding his other half certainly seemed to suit him. Now if only...
Her gaze drifted over towards where Aran and Peter were conferring
while Reno watched with an especially disgruntled look about him.
Would he be happy and feel complete if...when...he found out she
was his mate?

“Time to load up
this last batch!” Captain Fielding’s voice blared across the open
space.

Her stomach
clenched as Brandi realized this was it. Her last few minutes of
freedom. She got to her feet, pride not allowing her to cower from
the fate awaiting her. A strange buzzing filled her ears and she
gave her head a shake. Fainting was
not
an option.

Klaus appeared.
“Don’t worry. We’ll sort this mess out. I know you wouldn’t
conspire with those bastards.”

“Thanks, Klaus.”
Her voice came out shakier than she would’ve liked and she tried to
pin a brave smile on her face. “I know it will be okay.”

The Alpha gave her
a quick hug and then stepped back.

An Enforcer had
appeared to escort her to the van. It was Brent Nichols; he’d asked
her out once and looked embarrassed at his assigned task.
“Um...it’s time to go now, Brandi. Er... Sorry.”

“It’s okay,
Brent.” Inside she was screaming that no, it wasn’t okay. This was
so wrong. She didn’t belong in detention. She hadn’t done anything.
She was innocent.

Her wolf sensed
what was going on and struggled to be free, the idea of being
confined causing it to panic. Brandi whispered soothing words to
the frightened beast as she walked the distance to the van. She
felt as if everyone was staring at her and wanted to hide her face
in shame but forced her chin up and shoulders back.

The mud made
squishing sounds under her feet, and she concentrated on that
rather than the murmuring of those around her. Just ignore them,
she told herself. Concentrate on something else.

She tried to focus
on the sights and scents of nature that surrounded her. The air had
the fresh clean scent that always came after a rain. The clouds
were definitely thinning and a bit of bright sunshine was
illuminating the mountains showing them off in all their splendour.
Shades of green and purple and grey contrasted nicely with the sky.
Yellow wild flowers dotted the landscape here and there; could she
smell them?

A quick
inhale...damn. Reno’s scent drifted by on a light breeze. He was
just feet away and against her will her eyes shifted towards
him.

An Enforcer stood
at his side and was urging him towards the same van she was heading
to. Apparently fate had a sense of humour and they were being taken
away to detention together. In other circumstances it might have
seemed romantic but now—when she was so unsure of how he felt—it
was more like torture.

He was looking
directly at her, a muscle working in his jaw, the expression in his
eyes inscrutable. She searched the blue-grey orbs trying to find
some hint as to how he felt. Was there despair? Hatred? Love? There
was no real way of knowing. Reno had perfected the poker face. His
mouth was firm, his lips were straight. There was no hint of what
he was thinking or feeling. No lines of tension or laughter marked
his face. If it wasn’t for the faint flexing of a muscle in his jaw
he might have been a stone carving.

Brandi took in
each of his features; he wasn’t classically handsome, but to her he
was still perfection. His nose was strong, his eyes thickly lashed.
Kissable lips. Thick hair that was finally getting some length to
it. She recalled how it felt to run her fingers through it, to
trace the breadth of his shoulders and feel the power beneath his
warm skin.

Curling her
fingers inward she tried to ignore the growing warmth inside her.
Other memories were coming to the fore. Memories of being in bed
with him, of feeling his weight pinning her down, his body moving
inside hers...

Their eyes locked.
She inhaled deeply, his scent enshrouding her and bringing all her
senses to life. Everything in the background fell away until there
was only the two of them; their synchronized breathing, the
thudding of their hearts...

She opened her
mouth to say something, though exactly what she wasn’t sure.
Surprisingly, he seemed about to speak to her too. Her heart began
to race. The current of attraction between them was almost
palpable. Maybe he was going to...

“Hey! Wait a
minute.” Damien was calling out and everyone turned towards him.
His cell phone was clutched in his hand as he ran towards where she
and Reno were standing.

“What is it,
Masterson? We don’t have time to waste.” The captain walked over,
his voice gruff, weary lines etched on his face.

“Brad Owens just
contacted me. He has some new information.” Damien was actually
beaming; the expression seemed almost odd on the face of an
Enforcer.

Brandi clenched
her fingers tightly together, trying not to hope but doing so
anyway. It had to be good news, right?

“Owens?” Captain
Fielding frowned. “Information on what? Anything he uncovers should
be going directly to me.”

“No offence, sir,
but I didn’t quite trust you until a few minutes ago.”

If she hadn’t been
so anxious to learn of her own fate, Brandi might have laughed at
the expression on the captain’s face.

“Cut the crap,
Masterson. What’s this about?” Reno growled the words.

“You, old man,
aren’t guilty of conspiring with the Purists.” Damien smirked and
Reno rolled his eyes.

“Hell, I knew that
but what about...” Reno didn’t mention Brandi’s name, only jerking
his chin in her direction.

Brandi bit her
lip, hurt at the slight. Couldn’t he even bear to say her name?

“It isn’t Brandi
either.” Damien’s pronouncement had everyone looking her way and
she locked her knees to keep from falling down in relief, not
wanting anyone to know how scared she’d been.

“Then who?”
Captain Fielding folded his arms. “If this is some ploy to—”

“I’m not conning
you, Captain. The leak is Al Zimmerman, Brandi’s partner.”

Brandi felt her
mouth drop open at the news but didn’t even care if she looked like
a fish. Al? But he was her partner, her friend. It couldn’t be...
Or maybe... “Dammit, that’s it! That’s what’s been bugging me.” The
proverbial light suddenly flicked on in her head.

“What?” The
collective question came at her from all sides.

“Victor kept
mentioning that he heard I was coming home. But this was supposed
to be a surprise visit. The only person I told was Al and he tried
to talk me out of it.”

“He must have
known that the Purists were going to be meeting here and was trying
to prevent you from barging in on the party.” Reno rubbed his chin
and the corner of his mouth turned up in a half smile. “Victor must
have been shitting bricks when he heard you were coming. He didn’t
dare cancel the meeting since it might jeopardize his hopes of
moving up in the hierarchy, but he had to think of a way of keeping
you from finding out what was going on.”

Brandi nodded. “I
wondered why everyone seemed tense. They’d probably been instructed
on what to say and do. And my aunt kept talking about a shopping
trip we should take, likely trying to get me out of town for the
day.”

“Sorry to rain on
your parade, but what evidence do you have to prove it’s Al?” The
captain didn’t look convinced.

“He accessed some
records from Brandi’s terminal a few days ago but...she’d already
left on vacation. I had Brad cross-check the timing. According to
airport records Brandi was boarding her flight to come here at the
exact same time that her computer code was logged in at Lycan
Link.”

“You’re sure it’s
Al?” Brandi was pleased to no longer be under suspicion but
couldn’t believe her partner would do this to her.

Damien nodded.
“Sorry. Brad’s gathered phone messages, accessed Al’s private
email... It’s him. We have Enforcers on their way to arrest
him.”

Brandi snorted in
disgust at her own gullibility. “And here I thought he really
wanted to keep me as a partner, when all the time I was just the
‘goose that laid the golden egg’ for him. Dammit, he even helped me
change the password on my computer a few times. I bet he was
laughing at how easy it was to dupe me.”

Brandi felt her
cheeks heat up as she considered how her own carelessness had
caused this problem. Al would have likely found another way to spy
on Lycan Link activities but it was still embarrassing.

“Well,” the
captain cleared his throat and a muscle twitched in his cheek. “I
guess you’re free to go then Brandi. You too, Reno. Er... Sorry.”
He turned away and began to call instructions to the remaining
Enforcers obviously feeling that his single ‘sorry’ was sufficient
and that the matter was done with.

Brent released his
grip on her elbow and Brandi looked down in surprise, not even
realizing the man had still been holding onto her. “Brandi, I...I
didn’t think you’d done it. Just following orders, you know.” He
stepped back and gave her an apologetic smile before walking
away.

The crowd around
her quickly dispersed. Brandi blinked. This was so weird, going
from the centre of attention as an accused criminal to a...a
nobody. Not that she was complaining. It was just...anti-climatic.
Now that the drama was over, life carried on as normal for everyone
else.

She glanced
around. The captain had turned his back on her to deal with some
matter or another. Klaus was talking to Peter, Aran and Darcy.
Damien was on the phone again.

That left only one
person.

“Well...” She
turned to look at Reno.

He gave a curt
nod. “Glad things worked out.”

“Me, too.”

They stared at
each other for a moment, then looked away. An awkward silence
stretched between them. Brandi licked her lips wondering what to
say. Reno shuffled his feet and winced.

“How’s your leg?”
She stared down at the makeshift bandage wrapped around his thigh
and noted the way he had a death grip on the handle of the vehicle
beside him.

“It’s a mess but
Aran says it should heal. A scar, nothing worse.”

“I’m glad.”

Silence again.

Reno rubbed the
back of his neck. “So...”

“Yes?” Hope filled
her and she looked at him expectantly only to have Klaus spoil the
moment.

The old Alpha
wrapped her in a hug. “Glad things worked out for you.”

“Me, too.” She
gasped the words as he gave her an extra firm squeeze before
releasing her and wrapping a friendly arm around her shoulder.

“So, have either
of you seen my granddaughter?”

“No.” Brandi shook
her head. “Last time I checked she was supposed to be staying in
the mine tunnel near town. I don’t suppose she’s there?”

“Not likely.”
Klaus snorted. “I swear I’m going to send her to the Academy to
have some common sense knocked into her...if she lives long enough
to meet the age requirement, that is.”

Reno chuckled.
“She’ll need a strong hand to keep her in line as she gets
older.”

Klaus grunted. “I
might need some help; a good Beta. Know anyone who might be
interested? You perhaps?” He quirked an eyebrow at Reno, and Brandi
held her breath. If Reno said yes, it might mean he was considering
settling down. Visions of them as mates—real blood bonded
mates—began to form in her head.